Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: jodgi on December 09, 2003, 02:41:23 AM
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I browsed various BBS yesterday and found a way to get "enhanced mode" support for TrackIR and TrackIR2 hardware in the current AH version.
I'm often impressed by what some individuals can achieve with some creativity and talent, here goes:
On the TrackIR BBS I found a link on how to get TIR support in a racing sim that supported joystick axes views. As you may know, AH has joystick axes views and this applies to any game that has it.
The original thread: Race Sim Central Forums (http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?p=1402389#post1402389)
I got it up and working by following this link, however I'll just give a quick run through of it.
Use this program to set up a virtual joystick: PPJoy (http://www.geocities.com/deonvdw/PPJoy.htm)
Instructions:
Install the PPJoy software according to the PPJoy documentation
Start the PPJoy Configure Joysticks utility, press the "Add..." button and select "Virtual port" in the "Parallel port" input box. Now cklick "Add".
Download tir2joy (http://www.dikant.de/downloads/tir2joy.zip)
Copy tir2joy.exe and tir2joy.ini into a directory of your choice.
Fire up the TIR driver software, set the profile you like as normal and set it in enhanced mode (tir2joy needs it).
Now run tir2joy.exe and your head becomes a joystick (?!)
I needed to go to control panel and calibrate my head (hehe, sorry... I find this lightly amusing).
(edit): I also needed to calibrate within AH settings
Last step is to set the view pitch and view yaw settings in AH to the new virtual joystick.
It works flawlessly for me, have at it!
Imagine that we got TIR enhanced mode support in AH before AH2, ahhhh the irony...
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Nothing short of amazing, jodgi. Thanks for the tip. I've got it up and working pretty well ... although my stick setup now needs some tweaking to let me adjust my head around the cockpit for six o'clock views and such.
Too bad we can't yet combine the customizable views of AH with the hands-free benefits of trackIR. Maybe someday ...
Splash1
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I've made some suggestions on the head position feature vs. TIR here (http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=103127)
Glad you got it to work!
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Wow!
I bought my TrackIR in spring , and at first tried to use it in the mouse emulation in AH, but it was quite awkward, so I decided not to use it in AH. I left it only for IL2 FB use at that point.
Now that it is much more usable, I will start using it for AH as well :). The enhanced mode is so much better than the crappy mouse emulation. If we only got the saved views as well....
Thanks a lot Jodgi!:aok
--wasq
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Jodgi it sounds as if thats what is needed to get us all using our dusty TIR kits in AH.
However i cannot confirm this as ...
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http://www.geocities.com/deonvdw/PPJoy.htm
So if anybody can host the files or email em lemme know !
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Cav, the site seems to be back up now.
I could e-mail you the app ... but the setup folder is 1.6 megs compressed. If youre box can hold that, let me know and I'll shoot it to you.
Splash1
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It seems to be up for me also, but if you are having trouble with it, here (http://www.angelfire.com/retro/deonvdw/PPJoy.htm)
is a mirror site.
--wasq
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Got it now.
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Well I got my TrackIR 1 to work in AHII. Only thing is it's a bit choppy at times and still kinda hard to get the view back centered right.
Right now I"m using the Enhanced mode and smoothing. I'm not sure if this is due to my reflective dots or settings that causes the jumping or stuttering. And I"m sitting about a foot or so away from the tracker device itself.
Is it that much of a change if you make an "Active Dot" or make a custom dot from the 3M reflective material? I've got a Radio shack right here and could very easily get the materials to build and active dot if need be. Or I could very well just find the right materials for a custom ball/dot setup. I've got a whole sheet of dots left so using them for such a device is no problem. Just curious if it's that much better than making a similiar setup like you have Jodgi.
I'm also really curious if the Track IR 2 is that more advanced over the old model that it's worth the 99 U.S dollars to pick it up. I've read it's 40 fps faster than the current model. But is the miss tracking still an issue? I know they were looking at a better reflective setup opposed to the simple dot as they ship with the component now.
Thanks again for the help Jodgi..Was greatly appreciated.
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All I can say is that TIR2 just works in all aspects, as simple as that.
I would buy the TIR2 before making a active solution. I thought about that too, but no need now with TIR2.
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Pardon my ignorance, but will someone explain to me what TIR is? I'm completely in the dark about this. But whatever it is, sounds interesting to me.
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Here's a site you can check out that gives you the complete details about TIR. It's basically and Infra Red device that sense movement through the use of a reflective material. http://www.trackir.com (http://www.trackir.com)
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Thanks Jodji, I'm going to download it and see if it will work for me. I may need a shot or two of Vodka to get through the setup process...
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Jodji, It works like a charm- you're a smart fellow, hat's off!
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Jodgi,
Thanks for the info, I love using this thing in IL2 and now, thanks to you, I'm using it in AH. Works awesome! great post Jodgi.
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Ok ... I followed all the directions and have the cursor (while in AH) moving all over the screen, but the views aren't moving ... what did I miss ?
How do you calibrate the Virtual Joystick ?
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Once you've gotten the virtual joystick drivers loaded run the tir2joy.exe and run the Natural point software. Select the enhanced mode in Natural point. Then go into your game controllers and calibrate as if it were any other joystick.
When you get into AH you need to go to joysticks again and correctly map the virtual joysticks views. You should have a view yaw and a view pitch on the far left side. Select the virtual joystick and then the view yaw and map them. Do the same again for the view pitch.
Then when you go to play select pan mode for your viewing and it should work.
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Originally posted by Cobra412
Once you've gotten the virtual joystick drivers loaded run the tir2joy.exe and run the Natural point software. Select the enhanced mode in Natural point. Then go into your game controllers and calibrate as if it were any other joystick.
When you get into AH you need to go to joysticks again and correctly map the virtual joysticks views. You should have a view yaw and a view pitch on the far left side. Select the virtual joystick and then the view yaw and map them. Do the same again for the view pitch.
Then when you go to play select pan mode for your viewing and it should work.
Thanks for the response Cobra ...
I created a Virtual joystick.
I have TrackIR running in enhanced mode.
I have TrackIR2Joystick Running.
I went to calibrate the Virtual Joystick and there are no buttons on this joystick to push when asked to ... I don't get this.
In AH I have ...
AH Control = view pitch
Joystick = PPJoy Virtual Joystick 1
Joystick Input =
AH Control = view yaw
Joystick = PPJoy Virtual Joystick 1
Joystick Input =
I have F11 set the activate "pan Mode"
When I hit F11, I go into pan mode, but only my Cougar Joystick Hat will move the views, not TrackIR.
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One thing you have to make sure you do is make a profile in the NaturalPoint software. On the HotKeys tab, change the hotkey for Motion Mode. By default it is set to F8. Therefore, every time you turn on mouselook in AH by hitting F8, you are changing from Enhanced Mode back to Emulated mode which prevents it from working correctly.
Jodgi,
Thanks man! This is AWESOME!
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did you guys calibrate in AH also? Also in windows calibration I have the joystick view (which I can calibrate) then a bunch of other jstick functions which do nothing.. is this normal?
do you all have the damper set high in ah for the tracker or do you handle all that through the tracker profile?
tia
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Jodgi,
Thanks for the great info. I just got a TrackIR2, installed the 3.03 software, created an enhanced profile for AH, unchecked trap key for centering key in hotkeys, successfully installed PPJoy Virtual Joystick 1, extracted TIR2joy.exe and .inf to a directory, and edited the .inf file to reset view with the F12 key. Am I the only one who gets a "user disabled" message in the box when I launch TIR2joy.exe ? That box says "ressetting" when I press F12. It shows as "runninig" in task manager but no movement in control panel or AH. The virtual joystick does appear in AH and I have assigned the view yaw and pich axis's to it. Appreciate any help from anyone. Thanks
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I guess either no one else had this problem or felt like replying. I was really stumped, as it was not working most of the time. I even tried unplugging the MMFF2 joystick which isn't used in Aces High. Maybe I wasn't doing it correctly before, but I finally have it working. If I launch TIR2JOY with the TIR running in mouse emulation, I get the ”user disabled” message in the TIR2JOY status box as before. If I switch to enhanced mode after I get this message, everything works great.
It works great in Aces High. I have a button on my throttle that activates the Pan Mode (enhanced TIR) and another on my joystick that switches back to the default view for the shot and hat views and zoom work again. The TIR view in Aces high lets your look clear around on your six if the headrest isn't in the way.
DJ229 - AIR MAFIA
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Jodgi if we'll ever meet remember to pay a beer for you :aok
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I have the virtual joystick setup I have the track IR setup and i have the tir setup but everytime i go into control panel to calibrate the virtual joystick it does nothing. I have read every reply on this subject four times thinking i was missing something and apperently i am but what please help?
Never Give Up Never Surrender
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Do you launch tir2joy first ?
Do you get axes values showed in it ?
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Are you asking me these questions 13Promet?
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Originally posted by 13Promet
Jodgi if we'll ever meet remember to pay a beer for you :aok
What about refraining from shooting me down in the MA?
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I use Win 98 and I need the drivers for PPJoy before it will work. Apparently "PPJoyBus.sys". Where do I get this file?
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Dunno how to help you on that one, Moochie.
I just followed the instructions as I laid them out.
Sorry.
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jodgi
many thanks for the links you gave me (other thread)
>I have the virtual joystick setup I have the track IR setup and i have the tir setup but everytime i go into control panel to calibrate the virtual joystick it does nothing.
I found it worked ok in calibration, no button to click so I clicked Next. For centring I stared at middle of screen and for movement I looked all around the edge of the monitor.
>Am I the only one who gets a "user disabled" message in the box when I launch TIR2joy.exe ?
I think you know this bit?
You have to edit the ini file and type in the key value for resetview=
Get the value from the # list - I use numpad8 (resetview=72) for this and for centring TIR (Untrapped) then my forward Hat (mapped as numpad8) centres everything including AH view.
I didnt get the message after that.
Is F12 'Untrapped' in TIR?
>did you guys calibrate in AH also? Also in windows calibration I have the joystick view (which I can calibrate) then a bunch of other jstick functions which do nothing.. is this normal?
Eagler - yes ignore the other functions. Then go to AH and in Stick setup go Select Stick... and assign view pitch and view yaw to the virtual stick axes (Y pitch, X yaw). Dont forget you need to Calibrate everything to include the view 'stick' calibration. I found it was so sensitive in AH1 that I looked well left and right of my screen in calibration to reduce the overall sensitivity in views. And I had to invert the pitch axis.
OK so this smartar$e got it working fine in AH1 - possibly even smoother than in IL-2_FB. I then used exactly the same setup in AH2 and No Go !
Anyone know why?
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Originally posted by jodgi
What about refraining from shooting me down in the MA?
Just drag a commercial-like-flag with "THIS IS JODGI" written on it when you're flying in MA: I grant you 1 month of safety from my guns :aok